IP NEWS

Amazon.com application allowed by Canadian Patent Office

05/01/2012

After many years of prosecution and court battles, the Commissioner of Patents has allowed the patent application of Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon.com).

Amazon.com had applied for a Method and System for Placing a Purchase Order via a Communications Network, which generally covered a system and method for exchanging customer information between a client machine and a merchant server in order to allow a user to buy an item at the client machine using user account information previously recorded on the merchant server.

On November 24, 2011, the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) issued its decision which had ordered the Commissioner of Patents to perform an expedited examination of the patent application. In response, the Commissioner allowed the patent application on December 23, 2011. The patent is expected to issue in the coming months.

The Commissioner’s decision should be considered a win for applicants and inventors who may wish to seek patent protection for inventions having novel software or business methods.

**Update: The Amazon.com patent issued on January 17, 2012 as Canadian Patent No. 2,246,933.